Some of the names where the government will like to disinvest include a few PSU banks like UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra and Life Insurance Corporation of India
New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) India is set to surpass its Rs 47,000 crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal year, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Secretary, Arunish Chawla, said on Monday.
Chawla said at a media event that public investment via budgetary support is on track, with 33 per cent of the annual allocation met by the end of July by front-loading key reforms.
“As markets stabilise, we will bring in more offers for sale, minority stake sales, and a few IPOs and speed up our journey,” he said.
Half a dozen OFS and minority stake sales are likely, along with 1-2 strategic sales, he said, adding that the IDBI Bank strategic divestment will be completed within this financial year.
“We started with a few stake sales at the beginning of the year, we held up a bit in days of nervousness, but as markets have stabilised, we will bring in value creation opportunities for small investors. We will bring in more OFS, we will bring in minority stake sales, we will bring in few IPOs and we will speed up this journey,” Chawla said at Network18 Reforms Reloaded 2025 event in New Delhi.
Some of the names where the government will like to disinvest include a few PSU banks like UCO Bank and Bank of Maharashtra and Life Insurance Corporation of India and GIC Re.
Democratisation of capital markets has been a big reform, he said, adding that two-thirds of DII flows originated from individual investors, even amidst great nervousness for past few months in capital markets.
From January to August, while FIIs withdrew Rs 1 lakh crore in net outflow, DIIs poured in Rs 5 lakh crore into India’s equity market, he noted.
Chawla described the government’s disinvestment strategy as integrated, where the public sector has a bona fide role to play, as maintaining supply chain security is important.
The secretary said that dividends will play a significant role in the government’s integrated disinvestment policy because the public sector, which makes up 14 per cent of market capitalisation, pays 25 per cent of dividends to small shareholders.
The government targets over Rs 1.2 lakh crore in dividend receipts this year and is on course to meet the asset monetisation target in FY26, he added.
In spite of global headwinds, very soon our capital markets will be third largest in the world, he further said.